Tim Grobaty: Historian's new DVD looks at Long Beach's old theaters

NEW DVD ON OLD THEATERS: The last 116 movies our daughter has seen have all been screened at the Edwards 26 at the Towne Center on Carson, not far from our house. It's got, as the whiz kids among you already have guessed, 26 screens. That's more than the entire city of Long Beach had when we were her age.

The deeper you go into the history books, the more theaters you'll find. You go to the era of the silent films in the 1920s and you could practically leap from theater roof to theater roof, especially in the town's Pike amusement zone along West Seaside Avenue where, in one one-block stretch there were seven theaters, four across the street from three: On the north side of the avenue were the Arrowhead, the Bijou, the Bentley Grand and the Palace of Pictures. Across from those were the Byde-a-Wyle, the Lyric and the old Art Theater.

But that's all before almost everyone's time. Nostalgia these days goes to the grand old days of the more recently lost theaters that were around back in the 1940s through the 1970s: The beloved Cabart on Anaheim and Junipero, the Crest and Towne theaters on Atlantic in Bixby Knolls, the Atlantic on the same street in North Long Beach, the Art on Fourth Street, the Imperial, the Roxy, the State and the Fox West Coast on Ocean, the Palace on Pine, the Rivoli on Long Beach Boulevard and the Belmont on Second Street in the Shore.

Of all those, only the Art remains as a full-time working movie house.

Last week, we wrote about the drive-ins, and Long Beach historian and videographer Dennis Morawski dropped us a line to remind us that the Circle Drive-In, on the Traffic Circle, had a giant screen that could be seen out the windows of the maternity ward at Community Hospital, up the hill from the theater. The Circle folks installed speakers in the rooms so women (and the occasional intrepid father) could enjoy the films in the evening.

And there's a good two reels' worth of more great lore from the old days of movie theaters in Long Beach in Morawski's latest historical DVD, "Saturday Matinee," a look back at the great film houses in Long Beach, as recalled by old-timers who were kids back in the day.

The men and women interviewed by Morawski (they include Long Beach Heritage Museum founder the late Ken Larkey) reminisce about the Saturdays spent in front of the giant screen watching double-features and assorted serials, shorts, cartoons and newsreels.

It was a great deal for the harried moms of the era, when they could drop their kids off and run errands or whatever it is they claimed to be doing all day while their children sat transfixed for hours.

"What a great deal for a baby sitter," one person noted. "For a quarter, we kids would be entertained for four or five hours."

As is always the case when older folks talk about the glorious olden days, the first person to talk doesn't have a chance. As more people recollect the past, the cheaper the ticket gets. Following the initial salvo of 25 cents, another veteran moviegoer recalled spending five hours watching movies for just a dime. Another claimed a 9-cent buy-in. We're giving the trophy to the man who recalled getting a quarter from Mom, which he would use to load up on candy and a glass bottle of pop, with enough left to see movies all day, after which he'd return to the store, get a penny back from returning the bottle and buy more candy with that.

The 26-minute DVD joins Morawski's collections of great historical Long Beach films, which include looks back at the Pacific Red Cars, the 1933 earthquake, the Pike, the Queen Mary, the Cyclone Racer and more. They're not available for purchase, but copies are available for check-out at the Long Beach Public Library and its branches.

FOOTBALL PICKS WEEK 3: Oh, come on! Carolina, a team that couldn't pull a drunk hobo off its sister, beats New Orleans? Seattle, which doesn't even want to have a team, beats Dallas?

It was another idiotic week in the NFL, the kind of idiotic week that makes it difficult for a genius like us to perform up to what's expected of us. Dave Ursini, of Naples Rib Co. - and with whom we definitely don't have a side bet this season - is off to a great start, blundering into a mess of upset picks.

We suit up again, refusing to make any panicky picks, this week. You can, too, by going to presstelegram.com.